Just to give everyone a quick status update, we are currently running a bit behind schedule for the public beta test release of ESET Smart Security but expect to have it available in a few days.

I know there is a great deal of interest in seeing ESET Smart Security and our developers, QA engineers and tech writers are putting in long hours in order to ensure not just that everyone has a stable product which excellent performance, but to have a great experience with it as well.

With that in mind, though, I would like to provide folks with some background information about what is going on in order to better set your expectations about what ESET Smart Securityis and is not:

ESS is the first, brand-new version of security software to be released by ESET in several years. NOD32 v2.70, v2.51 and earlier releases were version upgrades, all based on the 2.x codebase which dates back to 2003. While it is a testament to the excellence of the architecture and engineering teams that four years later it is still the basis for the same engine which protects you against viruses, worms, Trojan horses, spyware, adware and a whole host of other threats and vectors, the time for a new architecture has been approaching for some time: Over the past four years, not only has the threatscape changed, but our developers have some different and better ways to protect you against both today's and tomorrow's threats. Not all of those changes can be implemented easily on the 2.x codebase, hence the need for a codebase not just to provide us with a better platform for new features and functionality, but a better way to do established features and functionality as well.

ESS is not production code, but beta code. Unlike previous beta test cycles which tested updates to a mature codebase, ESS represents a brand-new codebase and some of the experiences you have with it will mirror those which occurred with NOD32 v1.0 and v2.0 beta-test cycles.

The Public Beta 1 drop of ESS is going to contain some rough edges, such as unfinished screens, missing online help sections and so forth. It is also going to contain bugs (errors in the program, not viruses). While we have been devoting a great deal of resources to internal testing, we also realize it is impossible to completely test ESS in all possible configurations and environments. Despite the best efforts of our developers and QA engineers, we know the code will have bugs in it which we were not exercised during internal testing we performed. We are relying on our beta testers to help us find and fix them.

The beta test cycle for ESS is going to run longer than those for previous programs. For example, NOD32 v2.70, the last product to be beta-tested publically, only added incremental features (malware reclassification, antirootkit and so forth) and support for an additional operating system (Microsoft Windows Vista). ESS is a new product and is going to have to be tested across a wide range of operating environments.

ESS is going to change through the beta test cycle. While the behavior, documentation feature set, interface and other parts which make up ESS have been planned, they are not all completely implemented yet. Also, we realize that while we have made some reasonable determinations regarding things like default feature sets and behavior, they may not be the best choices for everyone. Providing ESET with your feedback on this is just as critical as reporting bugs, and we will listen to what you have to say and take appropriate action. That does not mean we are going to implement every change and feature request we receive. But it does mean we are taking all feedback we receive very seriously.

ESS is going to frustrate you at times. ESS represents a brand-new way of doing things for ESET, and it is likely that things which were easy or simple for you to do with previous versions are not going to be as simple or as easy to do with ESS. ESS represents a new way of doing things and is going to be different than NOD32 v2.70 in a lot of ways. We realize there are people who are very comfortable with NOD32 v2.70 and are not going to like those differences. As stated in the paragraph above, this is one of the things we are looking for feedback on.

ESS is going to amaze you at times. ESS represents a brand-new way of doing things for ESET, and it is likely that things which were difficult or impossible for you to do with previous versions are going to be simple and easy to do with ESS. We hope you like those and continue to give us feedback on how we can make things easier and simpler.

You now should have a better appreciation for what is coming with ESET Smart Security and why it is taking us a few extra days to get it ready for you. You may also have noticed there are several things I have not discussed such as platform support, system requirements or specific features. The reason for this is quite simple: These will change through the beta test cycle, in large part because of feedback from you. While we have some sense of what these are going to be, we are relying on you to help us fine-tune them.

Lastly, please do not be alarmed or upset if you do not receive a prompt reply to your questions. I have other responsibilities which keep me away from the forum at times. Thank you for your understanding.

Nice to hear about ESS....But I have some personal reservations. I mean, many of the bugs agoretsky talks about were also there in the alpha release of CeBit 2006. In this one year, I expect the product to be at least a bit better than that. Reading this message from agoretsky makes me ask where all their development went, considering that NOD32 v3 was in development since 2005....

Anyway, lets see how this version of NOD fares. Thanks for the information, looking forward to the beta.

How about making in making sure that it will run on Vista (both v2.7 and v3)? Lots of companies are having a hard time with Vista...

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If they really spent an entire year making it Vista-ready, then version 2.7 could have been released rather quickly. There are several reasons for me to doubt this. Many companies released Vista-compatible versions quite quickly. It wouldn't, and I mean it, take an entire year to develop for Vista. Vista itself changed a lot from release to release, and hence focusing on copmatibility at every stage wouldn't have been a wise decision either.

Firecat, what I said was: if ESET had to re-engineer both v2.7 and v3 for Vista, that would delay release a lot.

You seem to have inside knowledge about ESET development, so it is pointless for me to discuss this with you if you don't come out and state what you know instead of dropping hints here and there...

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I do not have any particular inside knowledge, but I have seen a leaked beta release of the CeBit 2006 version, which is why I am led to believe that very little work has been done in a year of development time. Much of the feature work was already done in the early beta, so it was (pretty much) feature-complete (though how it was implemented is another thing), but my source tells me it was darn buggy and next to inoperable due to bugs. I would have thought that the cosmetic bugs relating to the interface would have been fixed by now, considering that these are the easier types of bugs to fix. I'm pretty sure this beta would be more stable than that alpha, but I am wondering why cosmetic/GUI bugs have not been fixed.

And sure it takes a lot of time for companies to make their products Vista-compatible, but I doubt they spent all of 2006 doing this. Making a Vista-compatible version would have made sense only after the last release candidates or the RTM release was sent to Eset, all of which happened in mid-to-late 2006. So there was still the time of at least 3 months, during which interface bugs could have been fixed, unless they decided to focus on different things instead.

That is 12 months ago, lots of changes could have occurred during such a lengthy period.

Cheers

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I didn't mention anything about changes, but about why Eset seems to have ignored simple interface bugs when these are the easier kinds of bugs to fix.

I suppose Eset decided to focus on better implementation of the features of the product instead, but the interface does create the first good impression after all, so I feel that those bugs could have received more attention than they did.

Firecat - if you have enough time - look at the new beta of KIS 7. It has (at the moment) the old GUI of KAV/KIS 6 and a lot, lot JUST a LOT of bugs, like threating itselfs modules like viruses etc and BSODs. We all know that the ESET betas are very stable unlike the others vendors' software. Also I mension that the integrated firewall is ESET-made and it also took some (big I think) time to be vista compat. For example Agnitum says they spent an year for "beating" the new Vista architecture and they aren't put out yet even an alpha nor beta build of OP or the new Suite!

We all know that the ESET betas are very stable unlike the others vendors' software.

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Yes . ESET are very strict when it comes to stable product / quality control .

X3ro said:

Also I mension that the integrated firewall is ESET-made and it also took some (big I think) time to be vista compat.For example Agnitum says they spent an year for "beating" the new Vista architecture and they aren't put out yet even an alpha nor beta build of OP or the new Suite!

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I also believe it is the firewall that is the most difficult to develope for Vista . At least all vendors I know have had major problems with nothing but the firewall for Vista. Which means Microsoft want to make people use their own firewall .

All that have been said by agoretsky sounds like usually boring commercial rubbish.
I think I have read this kind of bull on different AV home pages just before they realease anything and release it in time unlike ESET...

Despite this, I think that you should make this yesterday, that was the deadline defined by ESET.

I've all the pleasure to help the ESET team to make this version outstanding like the others was and still are, but I also hope that you (ESET team) can improve the support on this forum and take the users more serious...